One incredibly useful thing most non-linear editing applications can do is nest multiple clips within the timeline into one single clip. Some applications call it nesting, some call it creating a Compound Clip but there are many different reasons to create a nest.

And then after that, you may need to unnest those clips and get back to the original master clips. Some apps call this a decompose while others break apart the clip items.

But not Premiere Pro. To decompose and break apart a Premiere nest you usually have to open that nest in the timeline and then copy and paste the original clips back into your main timeline.

But here comes Knights of the Editing Table to the rescue with Grave Robber.

Grave Robber is a simple extension that serves a very simple but often needed task of un-nesting those nests. Open the Extension and you have a tiny new panel asking you to Dig It on a selected nest. Give Grave Robber a chance to do its thing and you should have those original clips back, intact in the timeline.

I’m not exactly sure how Grave Robber is doing the un-nest but it looks like it is opening the original nested timeline and then copy/pasting that into the main timeline.

With tongue firmly in cheek, you select your nest and hit the shovel to Dig it up. After the un-nest happens the little scroll will undo the un-nesting operation.

Knights of the Editing Table also makes what is arguably the single most useful Premiere Pro third-party tool Excalibur. I wrote a review of Excalibur when it came out and still use it every time I work in Premiere. If you use Excalibur then you can assign a shortcut to Grave Robber and not have to worry about using the Grave Robber extension.

Knights of the Editing Table also make the folder watching utility Watchtower to monitor and import clips. That requires its own panel as well so it might be time for the Knights to build a unified panel for all Knights of the Editing Table tools!

Grave Robber is on sale for $12 (regular price $15).